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Monday, September 19, 2011

Śrīmad Bhāgavat Canto 12, part 2

12.9.25 Kṛṣṇa does not know the limit to the sweetness of His own toes as He sucks them on the Banyan leaf on the ocean of cataclysm. Kavi Karṇapur sucked Mahāprabhu’s toe as a toddler and as a result he wrote so many beautiful books like Caitanya Candrodaya, Gaur Ganoddeśa Deepika and Kṛṣṇāhnika Kaumudī. Viśvanātha’s tika :mac-caraṇāmbuje kīdṛśaṁ madhu vartate yata etad āsvādanārthaṁ bahavo mad-bhaktā yatante tasmād idam aham apy āsvādya pariceṣye - « What honey is there in My lotus-feet? Since many of My devotees try to taste it, so should I. » Though Kṛṣṇa is the vessel of all sweetness He can still not relish it. Whatever or whoever is unlimited can not reach his own limit, and it has been said earlier in the 10th canto, chapter 87, that the Lord does not know His own limits. That is why He became Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, to find the limits of His own sweetness and the love that Rādhā feels for Him. Śrī Ānanda Gopāl Goswāmī said in his Vilāpa Kusumāñjali lectures that Mahāprabhu never reached that limit and He never will, and this establishes the eternality of Gaura Līlā. This form of Baṭa Kṛṣṇa, lying on the Banyan leaf, is also eternal, like all of the Lord’s forms and He also never finds the limit to the sweetness of His own toe. Not only that, Śrīla Rūpa Goswāmī even taught ‘vibhur api kalayann sadābhivṛddhim’ – Although the bliss and sweetness of Kṛṣṇa līlā is unlimited, it is still ever-increasing.

12.10.23 In his commentary Jīva Goswāmī explains that the words devāś cetanojjhitā [lifeless statues] do not refer to deities of Lord Viṣṇu, but to statues of Indra and other devatās. Speaking of deities, there is a belief that once the deity is installed, the deity will accept all service from any and every devotee. That is a very bureaucratic vision. Śrīdhar Swāmī comments on Bhagavad Gītā 9.26tasya prayatātmanaḥ śuddha-cittasya niṣkāma-bhaktasya tat-patra-puṣpādikaṁ bhaktyā tena upahṛtaṁ samarpitam aham aśnāmi ‘prayatātmana means that I [Kṛṣṇa] will eat offerings from a pure-hearted devotee without selfish desires’ and Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda comments kiṁ ca mad-bhaktasyāpy apavitra-śarīratve sati nāśnāmīty āha prayatātmanaḥ śuddha-śarīrasyeti rajaḥsvalādayo vyāvṛttāḥ ‘Even if one is a devotee, if he/she has an impure body i will not eat the offering. The body must be pure, especially from menstruation.’

12.10.26 Lord Shiva is praising Mārkaṇḍeya Ṛṣi, who can not get enough of hearing about it. According to Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda it does not mean Mārkaṇḍeya was so proud or narcistic. Rather he felt like being instructed [and encouraged] as to what type of a person he should actually be.

12.11.50lokan avatyaja - the sun is the protector of the world, because crime – mugging, burglary, murder, rape - usually is committed at night. Daylight gives security to mankind, except in times of war or natural disaster of course.

This last sentence is significant. Even if the great poets who wrote so many volumes of Kṛṣṇa-kathā in the past, have just used their poetic skills of imagination [kavir kalpana], still they are all true because Kṛṣṇa is the Absolute Truth and any story which is projected upon Him will be the Absolute truth too. Mahāprabhu has proclaimed this, adding that the only rules are that there should be no apasiddhānta (wrong philosophy) or rasābhāsa (bad taste). This verse is not a glorification but actual truth.
Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda continues : « If the words are inauspicious because they destroy the householders world they are actually auspicious. »
In India the gṛhasthas invite the sādhu to lecture them and they know they will get the sauce for being materialistic and bodily conscious. They are prepared for that and they humbly accept their verdict without arguing or finding excuses.
Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda continues : « Even if fallen rascals say that the Lord’s eloping with other men’s wives is immoral, still it is virtuous [pure] »
Whatever touches the Cintāmaṇi-gem turns into gold, and similarly whatever act Kṛṣṇa performs is sacred, even if it externally appears to be sinful or immoral.

12.12.52 Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda's ṭīkā - "Just as sacred mantras are starting and ending with a bīja, this Bhāgavatam begins and ends with the same verses. From this it is clear that endings like svāhā and pracodayāt are also considered beejas."
Bhānu Swāmī incorrectly translated the words sthāne sthita in Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda's ṭīkā of SB 10.14.3, as ‘remaining in one’s social status’. Actually Viśvanātha says satāṁ nivāsa eva sthitāḥ – remain in the abode of a saint, na tu tīrthānyapyaṭantaḥ, but do not wander all over the holy places.

12.13.23 the very last verse of the Bhāgavat. In his ṭīkā Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda acknowledges that all kinds of non-dualist philosophies are included in the Bhāgavat - ārambhe pariṇāme ca vivarte’pi na hi kṣatiḥ śrīmad-bhāgavate bhakteḥ puruṣrtha-śiromaṇeḥ - "ārambha-vāda, pariṇāma-vāda and vivarta-vāda in the Bhagavat do not harm it – it [nonetheless] propounds bhakti as the crown-jewel of life’s goals." Jīva Goswāmī has established our siddhānta as acintya bhedābheda, and abheda is an equal part of that. It is perfectly reflected in the Bhāgavat, though the ācāryas have given a pure devotional slant to the abheda-verses in their commentaries. There is no ancient śāstra which is entirely fixed on one path or the other – though the Upaniṣads stress the path of brahman it has many personalist verses too and though the Bhāgavat obviously stresses bhakti, it has impersonalist verses too. But any honest person would acknowledge that the Bhāgavat is all about bhakti to Kṛṣṇa.